VMI wins National Climate Award 31 December 2021 VMI won a national award being crowned “Hero of Net Zero” by the UK Government at the international COP26 climate summit in November 2021 for its work on sustainability. More than 160 businesses entered the competition, making a commitment at the UK Business Climate Hub to achieve net zero by 2030, 20 years ahead of the Government’s own climate commitment. VMI.TV won over the competition judges for taking responsibility for their sectors environmental impact, spreading the sustainability message as founding members of the Bectu’s-Film-For-Future group. VMI.TV, Bristol and London-based camera rental company, crowned Hero of Net Zero at COP26 awards ceremony. Small business celebrated for original and creative actions taken to cut their own greenhouse gas emissions. The company urges other businesses to commit to net zero at UK Climate Hub. Read the full story of this amazing achievement here.
Formal commitment to Net Zero on Government Business Climate Hub 30 December 2021 The Government Business Climate Hub keeps a register of all UK companies who have committed to a net Zero Pledge and August 2021 saw VMI also adding its name, committing it to. Halving our greenhouse gas emissions before 2030 Achieving net zero emissions before 2050 Disclosing our progress on a yearly basis In doing so, we are proud to be recognised by the United Nations Race to Zero campaign, and join governments, businesses, cities, regions, and universities around the world that share the same mission.
VMI Christmas Jumper Day to help Save the Children 11 December 2021 VMI took part in Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day on Friday 10 December 2021, for us all to wear our silliest, most festive jumper on & donated £124 to Save the Children.
VMI 2021 Client Survey – 96% Service 6 December 2021 In December 2021, we held our 14th annual client satisfaction survey, asking all VMI clients who had hired from us in the previous 12 months exactly what they thought about us and we have included them for you here. Most importantly though, 40 of you voted VMI 4.8 on customer service (3 is average, 4 is good and 5 is excellent), which is equivalent to 96% client approval rating.
VMI Shortlisted for Park Royal Business of the Year award 2022 24 November 2021 For the third year in as many years, VMI has been nominated as a finalist for the West London Business Awards. VMI has been shortlisted as one of three companies for the Green ‘Race to Zero’ Business of the Year but what is really surprising is that also, for the first time, we have been also shortlisted as one of three companies in the category of Park Royal Business of the Year. Read Full Story
VMI Retires all Tungsten Rental Lighting 14 October 2021 Tungsten is the most traditional form of TV/Film lighting still in use today, having replaced expensive and dangerous Carbon Arc fittings. In reality though, tungsten lighting fixtures ought to be called lighting heaters, since 96% of the energy used is output as heat, leaving only 4% to produce light. This makes them immensely inefficient and not at all compatible with modern sustainability ideals and on these grounds, VMI has decided to retire all of its tungsten lighting in October 2021*. Read Full Story
VMI switches to ‘Green’ Gaffer/Camera Tape 14 October 2021 We are starting to look at all aspects of our business processes and supplier LeMark suggested that their new gaffer tape was more environmentally friendly than the regular type. They … Read more
Print and Toner Recycling 13 September 2021 All old ink and toner cartridges are disposed of in a responsible and sustainable manner with a new recycling bin installed by Lewis. We all know that these are very easy to buy and even easier to put into the dustbin when empty but he has found a waste company called Zero Waste Recycling, who will for a small fee, take all of our old cartridges and recycle them responsibly. We are all interested in the pursuit of saving more waste from going to landfill, so well done, Lewis!
Created Net Zero Roadmap 5 September 2021 We’ve created our Net Zero Roadmap! We will reduce our emissions to the limits that technology and society set for us by 2030 and offset any residual emissions along the way.
VMI Stops Using Disposable AA Batteries 16 August 2021 VMI has made the transition to using rechargeable AA batteries and entirely stopped the environmentally harmful use of disposable batteries and shared this practice with the wider rental community.
VMI takes on three new Apprentices 10 August 2021 Our apprenticeship programme has launched! Jonah Mann, Josh Barker, and Matt Fisher are our first recruits. This makes all the nagging, lobbying, meetings and consultations worth it. 200 people applied and of those we invited 42 to an activity event hosted at the London Screen Academy. 13 trainees will become the first cohort of Camera Technician Apprentices, They started a 2 week “boot camp” at the LSA on 24 August to begin a 2-year training programme designed by UK rental companies, which will train them to near Senior Technician standard without any cost to them and whilst being fully employed. Upon completion, they will achieve a formal industry qualification of a level 3 NVQ by August 2023. Read more
VMI Group Recycles 100% of Waste – CERTIFIED 28 July 2021 You heard that right! Our waste reduction plan is working!! For the last year we were able to divert everything we didn’t need any more to be fully recycled or composted, making us 100% landfill-free!! In 2019 we created over 24,000Kg of CO2e, we haven’t performed our 2021 carbon audit yet but we look forward to seeing a huge cut in this number. Read full audit here
Long-awaited UK Camera Tech Apprenticeship standard is rolled out 21 July 2021 More than 200 young hopefuls who initially lodged their interest in the new Camera Tech Apprenticeship programme, were reduced to 100 after the first sift, 56 at the second and just 42 received invitations to the activity and selection day event, hosted at the London Screen Academy on Wednesday 21 July.
First Carbon Audit Complete 5 May 2021 VMI completed its first ever Carbon Audit. Since 2020 was such a peculiar year, we used 2019 as our base year from which all of our carbon saving measures will be compared with. Going forwards, we commit to completing a carbon audit every year and publicly publishing our results. This way, we can demonstrate that we are taking real action to reduce our emissions annually and hopefully be on track with our net zero commitment.
UK’s first Apprenticeship Standard for Camera Technicians now open for registration 14 April 2021 Back in 2019, VMI Managing Director, Barry Bassett, first contacted the TV Industry body, ScreenSkills in order to investigate whether it might be possible to set up a formal apprenticeship standard for UK Camera Rental companies. After some false starts, the first cohort of Apprentices will start this year.
5 years of renewable electricity 10 January 2021 We have been powered solely by 100% renewable electricity since 2016 at all our sites. We are proud that in 2022, all of VMI’s gas and electric supplies of all buildings are supplied by Octopus Energy
VMI’s Barry Bassett wins prestigious Nelsonian Award. 16 December 2020 A surprise announcement by Infinity Photo-Optical Company, saw VMI’s Managing Director, Barry Bassett being awarded their annual Nelsoniantm Award to recognise his work and lifetime commitment to imaging excellence and specifically in publishing his paper on macro and micro cinematography. Full Story
Living Wage Week coincides with VMI’s anniversary achieving accreditation 5 November 2020 One year ago, VMI achieved formal accreditation of being a Living Wage Employer. The Living Wage foundation are the organisation at the heart of the independent movement of businesses and … Read more
VMI help to set up UK’s first Apprenticeship Standard for Camera Technicians 16 January 2020 We want an industry that is accessible to all. For the past 18 months we’ve been working on an apprentice programme specifically for 16-19 year olds (but open to anyone 16 on up). We got in touch with the TV Industry Body, ScreenSkills and we persuaded the Institute of Apprenticeships to approve the design of a new standard. Now our apprentices will gain an NVQ by working with us. We collaborated with many industry companies to create the standard including S+O Media, Panavision, Movietech, ARRI Rental, Shoot Blue, CVP, Focus 24, Shift-4, Brownian Motion, Take-2 and CVP. While we’re proud of initiating this idea, collaborating with the rest of the industry is important if we are to create an industry that is socially just and allows our apprentices to prosper and grow. [Designing an apprenticeship standard pre-zoom took a lot of meetings and a lot of coffee!] Read the full story – it took a LOT of time, perspiration and coffee!
2019 VMI Annual Client Survey – Best Ever Results 4 December 2019 The latest annual VMI client survey had the best results of all time achieving a client satisfaction score of 4.7 out of 5 for the 5th year in a row, which I am utterly thrilled about. (3 is average, 4 is good and 5 is excellent).
VMI is a finalist in two categories of West London Business Awards 25 November 2019 VMI is a finalist in two categories of the 7th annual West London Business Awards, for “Creative/Media Business of the Year” and also the “Responsible Workplace award”. The awards celebrate business excellence, … Read more
VMI’s Green Credentials in the news 28 September 2019 The Guild of Television Camera Professionals has written an article on our green credentials. Alison Chapman of the GTC said VMI was “the best example we have found of a company within the industry really committing to this in a thorough and thoughtful way is GTC sponsor VMI, which has already introduced many sustainable and environmentally friendly practices.” Read More
VMI Sponsors First Prize of Cine Circle Film Festival 27 September 2019 VMI sponsored the 2019 Cine Circle Film Festival, a relatively new film festival designed to encourage recognition for new film makers. Founder, Zbigniew Siwek, describes Cine Circles aims are “to connect, … Read more
We did it! Superheroes raised over £60K in past 3 years to make world landmine-free 15 July 2019 2019 was the final year of the Superheroes ride which actually also attracted the most sponsors for our Superheroes ride so far with 85 sponsors! We were able to raise over £25,000 for MAG, who save people from landmines. [8 intrepid Superheroes, en-route to Amsterdam on the final ride of the 3-year Superheroes campaign. From the left, pictured are: Steve Baxter, Darren Cock, Adam Rodgers, Yevgeny Subbotin, Barry Bassett, Ali Wilson, Daniel Layne, Peter Withers] Read Full Story about why we did did this, how the campaign was started and see pictures of the rides and videos, including letters of support from Prince Harry and the King of Holland!